Kandyan lady
Compare to the halftone color version of the same photograph.
Nautch Girls
Dancing Girl
One of the earliest postcards of a "dancing girl" printed in India. Nach [or Nautch] women among the most popular subjects of early postcards of India.
Nautch Girl Lying, Jaipur
The great Hindi/Urdu writer Munshi Premchand describes, from the point-of-view of Suman, the heroine of his first novel Sevasadan, the complex view she has of Bholi, a courtesan living across the street from her:
"Suman had never met any courtesans,
A Kashmiri Nautch Girl
[Verso] Postmarked Mount Road, Madras, 17 Sep. 1903 at 11:30 a.m. and addressed to Miss Olive McMillan, St. Augustine's, Cliftonville, Margate, England.
[Recto] "16/9/03 With Many Salaams from Mother."
Miss Chanda of Hyderabad
Dancers were not named frequently named; unusual too is the purple and white hand-tinting.
A Nautch Girl and Musicians
A finely hand-tinted postcard and gorgeous display of color.
A Kashmiri Nautch Girl
One of the earliest postcards of a Kashmiri nautch girl, this was mailed from Chennai (Madras) on Sept. 17, 1903 to Miss Olive McMillan, St. Augustine's, Cliftonville, Margate, England: "With many Salaams from Mother."
See Clifton & Co.'s version of
Nautch Girls
Note how carefully this postcard has been hand-tinted, even the studio carpet adding a little depth.
Dancing Girl and Musician
One of the most popular of early nautch postcards, made in many variations by Clifton & Co. As is so often the case, the musician lends colour and evokes the dance even if, in this case, they are probably standing very still in the studio.
[Dancer]
![[Dancer]](https://www.paperjewels.org/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/slides/nautch-woman-g-and-o-court-sized.jpg?itok=ZqgDCVag "[Dancer]")
An even smaller than usual court-sized postcard, with a blind-stamped instead of printed "Post Card" on the back, suggesting it is among the earliest postcards published by the firm, and therefore one of the first of a dancer.
